


Pale Black Eye

by baunitchief (emeryazure)



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Deal With It, F/F, This is as close to fluff as I get, the team finds out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 23:15:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13891197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeryazure/pseuds/baunitchief
Summary: When JJ shows up with a mysterious mark on her face, Garcia is determined to find out what exactly is going on with the blonde profiler. No matter what it takes.or 'the team finds out' for Jemily week.





	Pale Black Eye

**Author's Note:**

> hi, guys, another fic for you and i want to warn that this was legit the first fic i ever wrote for the cm fandom last year and it was 8k words that was drafted on my phone... can we say wow? anyway, sorry if it feels like a fragmented piece, it's because it is. it was written in sections and it's gonna remain that way cause i am lazy. but enjoy!

Garcia was scampering around the conference room like a wildfire. It was a particularly early call time and she was in a rush to get the presentation together on time before the team arrived. She was so caught up in her madness that she hadn’t noticed Lewis and Simmons slip into the room, laughing and then start reviewing the case file she had already laid out in front of them.

She made a mild seductive comment when Alvez walked in as she knew he had dropped Roxy off at his pet sitter so she was glad to make him smile. Reid traipsed in quietly and Garcia hated how quiet he had grown since his imprisonment and Scratch. She understood however, the boy needed time.

She was surprised when even Rossi had sprawled in looking worse for wear, clearly hungover seeing as today was supposed to be an off day for all of them. But serial killers didn’t have off days, she knew. The fact that even Rossi in his swaying position had arrived prior to JJ and their fearless leader was a shock for the blonde analyst.

Suddenly Prentiss huffs in; clearly flustered, the tinge of pinkness in her cheeks was a rare sight for the usually too composed Unit Chief. Garcia’s eyes traced the room and noticed JJ still wasn’t in the room and she had to voice her curiosity, “Where’s JJ?”

Prentiss’ head was downcast, her eyes avoiding and set dead on the case file on the table as JJ finally rushes in. “I’m here, l’m here, sorry!”

Garcia audibly gasps as the blonde agent’s hair was trying but couldn’t quite obscure a deep reddish black bruise that now set below her left eye. It was clearly new. The team all saw it now as she made her presence in the room known. Rossi was the first to comment, “Whoa there, Eye of the Tiger!”

Garcia couldn’t rein her own worried commentary in, “JJ, oh my God! What happened?”

“It’s nothing, Garcia,” JJ waved off her friend and team’s worried expressions. She did however briefly cut her eyes to Emily and Garcia did not miss Prentiss’ complete dismissal, not even so much as an acknowledgement of their friend. And it pisses her off slightly. “Went a little hard at the gym last night.”

“But don’t you wear those horrendous little head, face mask thingies?” Garcia struggled for a description as she needed an explanation ASAP. “How did this happen?”

Finally Emily, who had not so much as glanced at the blonde profiler since she entered, spoke. “Focus up,” says the brunette sternly. “I know we’d all rather be somewhere else right now but we’ve got a case so let’s get to it, Garcia.”

Garcia was frozen for half a second in her observance of their Unit Chief’s complete disregard of their teammate and friend’s recently acquired injury. She obviously knew something because this isn’t like the older woman but Garcia knew that as the days went on that Emily could sometimes be just as detached as Hotch had been. She hesitantly began, “You got it, oh Capitan.”

And so the briefing began much like any other, the case was sadly standard for what the BAU had come to see. Females all killed at the hands of what the profilers already knew to be a white male that was using these women as a surrogate for the one woman in his life that had hurt him.

Garcia couldn’t help but wonder in the back of her mind who had hurt their precious JJ and that she could lay hands on whoever had. And she couldn’t help but wonder why Prentiss wasn’t just as inquiring seeing as Garcia knew how protective and loving the Unit Chief was towards the blonde profiler. 

 

* * *

 

While the team was only a few states over in South Carolina hunting the serial killer, Garcia was busy starting an investigation of her own. She knew she should feel bad for digging into the life of one of their own but she also knew it was for their safety and protection. JJ would forgive her for caring so much.

She had started by looking at the camera footage from the FBI garage at Quantico from the previous night. She knew where JJ normally parked as it was near the same few spaces where the profiler had always parked since her days as a media liaison. It hadn’t even changed since leaving for her stint with the Justice Department and coming back to be a profiler.

Garcia knew what time JJ had gotten out of the office because, as always, the Oracle of Quantico had outlasted her comrades in that category while she reviewed cases. She also knew because it was almost always right before Emily walked into her office announcing that she was calling it a night as well. Prentiss letting her know that if any case of interest came up Garcia knew to email them to her to review immediately. As much as Garcia hated to have to do it on occasion, she knew Prentiss was a workaholic and that everyone else’s lives on the team did in fact stop for cases.

She watches JJ strut on the security feed but realizes that she hadn’t even noticed that the profiler was now driving a very new and very expensive Mercedes SUV. When had she gotten that car? And how could she afford it with the combined salaries of an FBI agent and a cop? Not to mention, with two young sons to take care of.

Garcia watches the footage as JJ waits beside her own vehicle, toying with her phone. Strange, she always envisioned JJ as the kind that relished the time she was off the clock to rush home to her two beautiful blonde babies and Cajun cutie. Instead, she waits until Prentiss graces with her presence who looks over her shoulder as she approaches JJ. As the younger profiler watches her Unit Chief approach her face absolutely lights up.

She watches with intense scrutiny as her two friends seem to greet each other with such intimacy that Garcia definitely feels a slight twinge perverse and looks away briefly. She assures herself that this is for JJ’s safety and looks back. She finds her friends, teammates, hell, the Unit Chief and her underling in a tight and very physical embrace. She rewinds and sees how they end up there. Prentiss had taken JJ’s face in her hands and pulled her close. So close they could’ve kissed but instead, it’s just a hug.

 _Just a hug, Garcia_. _They’re_ _friends_. She incites like a mantra. Prentiss clearly thinks better of the intimacy and pulls away but JJ finds her hand kissing it before Prentiss pulls away completely and is off to her own vehicle. _A kiss?_ Garcia can’t believe her eyes. She racks her brain for any kind of interaction that she may have witnessed like this in the past and she just can’t find the information anywhere. _Data not found_ , Garcia thinks.

She shakes her head and remembers that JJ said she had gone to the gym. Due to that one time JJ actually physically drug her to the gym with her, Garcia knew exactly where that was and easily hacks into the security database that holds the footage. She watches as JJ does in fact enter the gym, Garcia fasts forward through a short span of probably only thirty minutes before she spots the blonde agent exiting the gym to take a phone call.

The blonde looks sweaty and sexy, Garcia thinks. _That’s my girl_. But she also watches as the agent’s face turns more worried as the phone call continues. She quickly sees JJ enter the building and exit again within only a few minutes time. No black eye or bruise to be had.

“You lying little sneak,” Garcia voices. That’s when she suddenly realized that a video chat had popped up on an opposite screen. The program was always running and immediately accepted calls from any member of the team at any time.

This one just so happened to be from the lying little sneak herself.

“Who’s a ‘lying little sneak’, Garcia?” JJ prompts. Garcia cuts her eyes to her friend in what initially could’ve been venom but she softens as she lays eyes on the bruise in question that seems to have deepened in the time that she’d been away.

“It seems you are, my porcelain,” Garcia says lightly as her eyes narrow in on her friend.

“Garcia, I’ve got the team here,” JJ averts her gaze to the people in the room. Garcia knows better than to bring up personal matters while they’re on cases, due to distraction and dangers and such. She also knows better than to draw attention to them with the entire team present. “We’ve got a name we need you to search, Randall Peeks.”

“I will get on that right away and get back to you, my pretty little liar,” before disconnecting the call and scouring.

 

* * *

  

JJ has a stunned yet amused look on her face when her friend suddenly ends the call. Everyone else on the team looks on curiously confused.

“What was that all about?” Tara asks, a little more amused as she still after three years was getting used to the tech agents sassy comebacks.

“With Garcia, who knows?” JJ deflects, not wanting to draw any more attention than there already was. “She probably found out something about a lie I told my parents in high school or something.”

JJ laughs half-heartedly at her own joke as does the majority of the team.

“Garcia just isn’t quite human, is she?” Simmons says with a teasing smile.

“No, she’s not,” Prentiss quips seriously, not even looking up. She hardly seems phased by the tech analyst’s behavior. Reid, however, doesn’t miss the way that JJ shoots a concerned look at Emily. The Unit Chief who was just as stoic as ever, if not more so on this case, Reid realizes.

“Let’s get back on track,” Prentiss gets down to business. “We need to theorize how Peeks could’ve done this while Garcia gets us-“

Prentiss’ statement is cut off by information being received on her tablet. Rossi smiles as he takes his as well, “Looks like there’s no need to theorize.”

Prentiss lifts her eyebrow and shifts her head to the side as she takes in the information Garcia had sent them on their suspect. She finds herself more glued to the message that Garcia had left for her eyes only. _How long has this been going on?_ Garcia had sent her along with a screenshot of JJ’s kiss to her hand.

Reid and Rossi had started going through what Garcia had sent them with the rest of the team. Emily tried to keep her surprise at bay and even if she hadn’t most would chalk it up to the overwhelming info Garcia had just sent. Without even looking at her, Prentiss calls, “Jennifer, I need you to look at this.”

At hearing her full first name being called by Emily, JJ’s attention was immediately drawn to her and the iPad that was being presented to her by Prentiss. She had her own iPad in front of her so what could possibly be any different on Emily’s? Then she saw and her eyes widened as she looked up at the Unit Chief who was clearly trying to distract herself by listening to the team. Emily averted her eyes for a mere second to JJ’s. A knowing look in them that JJ didn’t need to prolong to know exactly what they conveyed. Skepticism, worry and concern for the job at hand. Knowing that the deceptive web they’d weaved was going to unravel sooner rather than later.

JJ recovered in mere milliseconds, reviewing anything that would have caused Prentiss to call her name as she had. “This guy is definitely our unsub as he took jobs at three out of four of our victims houses last year.”

Prentiss smirked in quiet pride at the blonde thinking quick on her feet. Even Rossi and Reid hadn’t come to the conclusion so quickly because they were discussing the geological profile, not quite getting to victimology. “Geological profile matches as well,” Reid puts together.

“Then let’s go get this son of a bitch,” Prentiss nods and is on her feet, nearly out the door in seconds with the rest of the team in tow. Reid and JJ exchange a worried glance, Emily never threw caution to the wind like this, especially with the rest of the team, unless something was getting to her.

JJ knew what it was, maybe they all had an inkling but JJ _knew_. It was the same reason that had caused her black eye and it was the same reason she’s been on edge ever since their leave of absence. It’s why she rarely let Emily out of her sight to begin with.

 

* * *

 

Garcia was distraught as she had been picking apart JJ’s life for the better part of two hours. She had found some things that she absolutely did not want to believe about the profiler. Like how her and Will had gotten divorced last year without anyone knowing and now shared custody of their two boys. Their perfect little blonde family was torn apart and that JJ had a new address. One that had she not been looking for it, no one would know was also Emily’s new address.

Her brain was racking in all this new information that even the processes in her own brain could not fathom or quantify. She had missed it, they all had missed it what with Reid’s incarceration and Scratch and Walker’s death. JJ didn’t have time to divulge what was happening in her personal life and neither had Emily. When was their last girl’s night? Garcia can’t even remember.

Suddenly Garcia’s phone chimes and she jumps, she knows the number all too well however. She doesn’t even have time to spark a witty line, so she simply answers, “Garcia.”

“I need an address,” Prentiss demands, leaving no room for argument or banter. “Like two minutes ago, Garcia.”

Garcia’s fingers work just as fast because she doesn’t know that she’s ever heard Prentiss this frantic. Not since Doyle, not since Askari or Scratch. She racks the web for the info but is coming up short on addresses for Peeks.

“Garcia!” Prentiss is fraught but Garcia hears JJ’s soft voice call the Unit Chief by her first name in the background and her nerves ease a little, hoping that Emily’s might have as well.

“I’m searching, give me a second,” Garcia continues her comb. “All I have on this guy is an abandoned warehouse that the company Peeks works for owns, sending the address now.”

“It’ll have to do for now,” Prentiss relents. “Thanks, Garcia.”

“Anytime, my lovely,” Garcia says finally realizing that despite all this new information how much she loved and cared about Prentiss. “You guys be safe, okay?”

“We will, Garcia,” she hears JJ say quickly before the line cuts off. Garcia knows she has to trust JJ’s gut instinct on this. Although she has started to worry that the info she sent Prentiss earlier was the cause of her frantic reaction she’d heard.

Although Prentiss has seemed level-headed since Scratch and Walker’s death, they also have noticed that Prentiss seems very detached from her own emotions regarding the situation. This wouldn’t be unusual but Prentiss was psychologically tortured after all and all she seems to do is care about the team’s well-being and the paperwork and not her own feelings on the matter. _Oh god_ , Garcia thinks. _What if she did that to JJ...? Is she even capable of such a thing?_

Garcia shakes her head, unable to even think the thought but something creeps in the back of her head. _Could it have been unknowingly?_

 _Stop_. Garcia quickly switches the gears and tunes in to the team’s radio frequency. She needed to make sure the team was safe before going about all and even bothering with the other stuff that she’s uncovered in the last twenty-four hours.

 

* * *

 

 _It’s textbook_ , JJ thinks. Their entry into the building is very much on par to many others. It’s her, Prentiss, Reid and Alvez. Luke opens the door. They scan their sectors. All of them do the jobs that they are trained to do.

When Peeks approaches Prentiss, it is slow and concise. Was he following her from the moment they’d entered the building? Was he always searching just for her? _Of course not_ , JJ surmises. _She was just there. Mere opportunity._

They had profiled it perfectly. This particular unsub was looking for a surrogate for his mother, who had been a prostitute. She was seemingly a perfect mother up until the point that she was murdered. She had dark brown hair that was nearly black and he chose his victims this way as well.

Sure, it’s crossed JJ’s mind, in the briefest of moments, just how similar these victims were to Emily but she never thought it would come to him targeting her. He had no reason to. Short of being confronted with the woman which is, after all, what’s happening now.

As they narrow in on their suspect, Randall Peeks heard the vehicle approach and killed the lights. It being eight o’clock at night, he had the cover of darkness to his advantage and he would use it all too well. He knew the building inside out. He worked for a real estate agency and this was one of their properties. He knew it was perfect for his staging but he couldn’t know how perfect until the FBI arrived.

He heard the vehicle approach and hid strategically to the right of the entry way where the curved wall there gave him just the right amount of coverage in the dark to surprise whoever was to enter.

It just so happens that Emily is in the back right of the formation of the team that enters and he could calculate just how fast he had to act to get the jump on her. He has mere seconds.

What he knows is that the agent stops just short of shining a light in his face and exposing his position. Now, although they had interrupted his fantasy, he knew that they had just supplied him with a new one with just one look at the dark, sharp profile of the agent.

JJ yells out when she spots the latest victim who was very much still alive. She grabbed the girl and assured her she was safe before hearing the one sound that could send the blonde profiler to her knees. She quickly regains control of the gun she had started putting away, pulling it back and aiming perfectly at a shadow.

He stalks only a few steps behind her before he was able to get the drop, grabbing Prentiss by the mouth and cocking his gun to her stomach.

 

* * *

 

“Randall Peeks!” Garcia hears Alvez exclaim over the radio. She knew by the certain tenor in his voice that whatever was going down was not good.

“Emily,” was the only quiet whisper that escapes Reid’s nearly frozen lips.

 _No, no, no_ , we’re the only words running through Garcia’s mind at that second.

She hears the cocking of a gun and a snicker coming from afar and Garcia’s teary eyes are unseeing. She couldn’t lose another Unit Chief and most certainly not like this and it was Emily, of all people.

“You don’t want to do this, Randall,” came JJ’s all too steady voice. The ultimate antithesis to Garcia’s tears. _How could she possibly be so calm?_

“No, this is what I’ve been waiting for,” Garcia hears the unfamiliar deep voice say. “She is absolutely perfect, you brought me a gift.”

“She is a gift but not for you,” Garcia hears JJ telling the unsub. “She’s not your mother Randall and she never will be.”

“Oh no?” Randall questions, being picked up by Prentiss’ mic. “You’re telling me this woman isn’t cold and calculating, that she doesn’t plan your every move to the millisecond?”

“Is that what she did for you?” JJ asks, still cool as a cucumber. “Your mother? She wasn’t the perfect mother, huh?”

“Of course, she was!” came Peeks’ defensive stance.

“But you didn’t know what she did to make it appear that way, did you, Randall?” JJ asks, starting to try to get under the unsub’s skin. “You didn’t know she was a prostitute all those nights after you fell asleep, huh?”

“Shut up!” Peeks demands, probably shoving the cold gun further into Prentiss’ side which causes her audible gasp that sends a shiver running down Garcia’s spine.

“She seemed so perfect, she had the perfect life,” JJ continues. “She would’ve seemed so 9 to 5 to everyone else but she had a secret, she was never there when you woke up hungry or upset over a nightmare, was she, Randall?”

“You know nothing about that!” Randall attests. “You didn’t know her!”

“I know she hurt you,” JJ’s even voice even sends goosebumps over Garcia’s arms. “I know she put herself in a position to where she invited that man into your home, the man who beat you.”

“It was her fault!” Peeks proclaims.

“And I know that she ended up dead because of him,” JJ affirms. “Isn’t that right, Randall?”

“Yes!” Peeks vehemently proclaims. “How could she do that to me? How could she let him in?”

“She didn’t know,” JJ now seems to have firm control of the situation. Garcia can only imagine the three guns pointed at this guy but it seems the only one that matters is the one aimed at Emily. “It wasn’t her fault, how could she have known what he was capable of?”

“You’re saying it wasn’t her fault?” Peeks seems to reason.

“Of course not,” JJ reassures. “It was his fault cause he was responsible for all the terrible things that happened to you and to your mother.”

“Well, you clearly didn’t know my mother then,” Randall finalizes. “She sucked him into her game and now she pays.”

The sound of two gunshots are undeniable and Penelope nearly leaps out of her seat as a tear streams down her face. _Oh god, oh god, oh god_.

“We’ve got an agent down!” Alvez screams into the mic. “We need a medic down here ASAP!”

The rustling sounds of the mics, labored breathing and stunned silence seems to last forever in Garcia’s mind but it is only seconds before she hears JJ cool murmurs. So calm and intimate but yet so emotional that Garcia once again starts to feel that perverse feeling again, except it’s softer this time.

“Come on, baby,” JJ says barely above a whisper despite the adrenaline Garcia hears in the strain of her voice. “You’re going to be alright, you’ve got to for Henry and Michael. You know I love you.”

When the sirens and medical team arrive, JJ’s words all but exchange for a muffled sob until Reid sends over the mic that he’s coming out with the blonde agent.

Garcia seems to manage the words “Unit Chief” and “abdominal wound” before Alvez finally calls her in the midst of the ensuing chaos.

She faintly hears him say the words, “medics say she’ll be alright" and “JJ’s shot saved her life” before Garcia can finally breathe again. She processes the words, “It could’ve been much worse.”

She processes but doesn’t feel the words. What could be worse than one of her best friends being shot? Then the dark thought comes to her suddenly, her other best friend losing the love of her life.

It all hits Garcia like a brick to the head.

 

* * *

 

The next few days had been a blur. Garcia immediately took a flight to South Carolina to be with the team the night of the shooting. JJ had not left the hospital in as many a days since the shooting. The team had brought her go-bag so at least she had fresh clothes. The team we’re all concerned about JJ almost more so than their Unit Chief.

Luckily for Prentiss, the gun shot had hit at just the wrong angle for their unsub. It had been a shallow through and through shot. And even though she had spent two hours in surgery that left JJ a shaken mess, Emily was going to be alright.

Both JJ and Reid were worse for wear, Rossi noted in the hospital but JJ particularly so. He couldn’t quite find himself believing the reason that he subconsciously knew was the cause of the blonde agent's distress. Love. Not the close friendship bond that they had put on display for the team to see. No, this was love in every form and JJ’s mask had all but slipped away. At one point he had gone over and held the blonde’s left hand. He had thrown the wedding for JJ and Will and he had seen the engagement and wedding rings for years prior but he knew that the rings on JJ’s finger no longer belonged to or represented Will in anyway.

He smiled to himself when it started to sink in, he knew the team wouldn’t go so far as to see what he saw. Reid being the only other one that had known them as long but he was oblivious and honestly a little blinded by his own course of emotion. He wondered how they had all missed it but then again this wouldn’t be the first time that both JJ and Emily had kept something so sacred from them. It had just never been done in such close proximity. He found himself almost proud of them and knew that the relationship had done nothing but strengthen the team and not hinder it.

He had put together what Garcia now knew so at some point on the day that Prentiss was being released, as the team shuffled about in their own worlds. Alvez, Lewis and Simmons had all gone on a coffee run. Reid and JJ had gone to sort the paperwork for their Unit Chief’s release. Rossi took the lonely seat next to their anxious tech agent and finally asked the question that had been eating at him.

“How long have you known?” Rossi asked calmly but Penelope’s head whipped around at the elder agent so quickly, her head nearly spun on its axis.

“Known what? What’s to know?” the blonde replied too quickly. Rossi chuckled at his friend's poor attempt to play cool.

“Jareau and Prentiss?” were the only words that Rossi knew he had to say to break the analyst.

Garcia’s facade almost smashed through instantly as she sighed, “How did you know that I knew?”

“Come on, Penelope,” Rossi said. “The way you were acting on this case, calling your best friend a ‘pretty little liar’ and I’ve only just put two-and-two together here in this hospital so spill.”

“I found out after JJ showed up with that black eye, I was concerned as any friend would be and the fact that Emily was acting so nonchalant was unnerving so I snooped,” Garcia guiltily admits. “I shouldn’t have but I did and I found out that JJ and Will got divorced last year, no big hubbub, they share joint custody of the boys and I found out that JJ and Emily share an address.”

Rossi nods, taking in the rapid fire information quick as possible, “I noticed that the rings JJ's wearing are different and with the way she was acting here, it all made sense. They’re married?”

“Yeah, they are, I found their marriage license, it’s dated six months ago,” Penelope revealed. “How did they keep all this from us?”

“I don’t know, I assumed that we would have known after Scratch took Emily,” Rossi says. “JJ hardly even blinked, Will came to comfort her and she kept herself so composed. She’s gotten almost as good at that as her wife, I guess.”

Garcia smiled at the word wife when said in context of JJ and Emily, it seemed a very natural progression when she thought about it. Penelope is torn from her thoughts when Rossi speaks again.

“So how did JJ get that black eye?” Rossi asks, clearly a little frustrated with the question that he can’t seem to find an answer to.

“That’s the one answer that my search actually didn’t uncover so I don’t know,” Garcia shakes her head, clearly frustrated as well. “I found footage from the gym and she left in a hurry with no black eye so I have to assume she went home to Emily and then... I don’t know if I want to know what happened with how Prentiss was so detached the morning after.”

“Penelope, you know Prentiss isn’t capable of doing something like that knowingly to someone she loves,” Rossi comforted.

“Do I? After what she did when chasing Doyle, I guess it’s always been in the back of my mind that we don’t quite know what Emily is capable of,” Garcia admitted sadly. “She’s a trained spy and I love her to death but I still don’t think I could claim to know everything that goes on in that pretty little head of hers.”

“I know what you mean but I do know that she would never consciously hurt JJ,” Rossi resolves. He’s confident and this comforts Garcia in ways she didn’t know she truly needed. “Prentiss has been through a lot between Scratch and Walker so it had to have been an accident.”

“Yeah, I mean, I know JJ wouldn’t put up with that kind of thing no matter how much she loves somebody,” Penelope said as she looks over at her blonde friend at the nurses station with Reid. “She gives everybody second, third and even fourth chances though, that’s just who she is.”

“We can’t and shouldn’t jump to any conclusions right now,” Rossi says taking Garcia’s hand in his own. “We’ll just wait for them to come to us.”

“But what if they never do?” Garcia asks worriedly.

“They know you know, don’t they?” Rossi’s eyebrow peaks as he asks the question.

“Yeah, I sent Emily a message when I sent you guys the info on Peeks,” Garcia says sadly, she rests her other hand on top of Rossi’s. “I almost feel responsible for how Emily reacted in going after this unsub and getting herself shot.”

“It’s not your fault, Penelope,” Rossi says. “Prentiss did rush it a bit with this guy and even though she was on edge, we still handled it the way we usually do. I doubt there was anything we could’ve done differently. This guy was asking for suicide by cop and sadly JJ was forced to give him what he wanted.”

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” Garcia asks apprehensively.

“Garcia, if there’s one thing I know,” Rossi says letting a confident smirk grace his features. “I know that Emily and JJ will be just fine. They always are.”

Suddenly Garcia and Rossi are torn from their revelry by JJ’s quick approach. As they stand, they both notice how on edge JJ now was with her nerves over her wife’s safety and in trying to keep what little of her mask that was left firmly in place in front of the team.

“Is the plane ready for us?” JJ asks quickly, not quite making eye contact.

“All set, I called ahead,” Rossi confirms. “They’re ready whenever you are.”

“Alright,” JJ nods with a sigh. “Pen, do you think you come help me with Emily?”

Garcia sees the apprehension in JJ’s face and gladly reaches over to take the blonde profiler’s hands that fidget with her nails in her own.

“I’ll call Luke, Tara and Matt and have them meet us at the airstrip,” Rossi nods, starting to lead Reid away from the girls.

“I’ll get the car and meet you out front,” Reid says taking the out keys from Rossi’s outstretched hand.

“Thanks for all this, Pen,” JJ says, a grateful smile lacing her nervous lips.

“Of course, sugarplum,” Garcia says with a soft smile as she leads them towards Prentiss’ room hand-in-hand. “Now let’s go bring your wife home.”

JJ’s eyebrows shoot up at the unexpected but not unwelcome statement. She knew Garcia knew about them but didn’t know just how much until now. She also knew she should feel unsure about anyone else knowing about their relationship but that ship had sailed. So instead she found comfort in her friend’s quiet acceptance and honestly joy in hearing her closest friend finally refer to their Unit Chief as her wife. Suddenly, JJ found herself beaming with pride over everything she and Emily had unknowingly built together.

 

* * *

 

“I don’t need a fucking wheelchair,” Emily protested to the nurse who had shown up with the chair shortly after JJ and Garcia.

“Agent Prentiss, you were shot three days ago,” the nurse said sternly. “And this is hospital policy.”

“Emily,” JJ’s voice also warned the agent to behave.

“What? I’m not an invalid, I can walk,” Prentiss continues to protest despite sliding to the edge of the bed too quickly and wincing considerably, stopping her movements short.

“Need I remind you of your stitch count, Agent?” the nurse asks with a lift of her eyebrow.

“Em, just get in the chair so we can go home please,” JJ practically begged.

Not even the sound of her wife’s pleading could get to the stubborn brunette sometimes and Emily responds, “No, I can do this.”

Garcia had watched the scene in utter silence but she was also watching her best friend and blonde profiler’s mask slipping as well. She was tired and worried and frustrated and she just wanted to go home with minimum fuss. She also watched as JJ tried the best she could to help her wife up who was fighting her but was more so fighting the pain in her abdomen. Garcia knew it was there from the deep set brow and the grit of the Unit Chief’s teeth. She was in pain and couldn’t admit it and Garcia was fed up.

“Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, sit your ass down in that wheelchair or I will give you the same kind of black eye that you gave your wife!” Garcia quickly covered her mouth realizing what all she had just insinuated and regretted it immediately.

JJ froze in place beside Emily’s bedside, hands still in her wife’s and supporting her arm. Prentiss, however, was knocked back to a sitting position on the bed with a slight wince at both the pain and the force at which Garcia’s words had hit her.

“I’m gonna give you guys a few minutes,” the nurse says quietly, leaving the chair in its place and quietly escaping the tension of the room full of women.

“Garcia,” JJ warned with her tone. “Here and now is not the place for this conversation.”

Garcia investigated the guilt-laden face of her Unit Chief and regretted ever having said something but it was on the tip of her tongue and she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Look, I’m really, really sorry, okay?” Garcia says. “But I can’t stand not knowing what happened.”

Emily’s face goes to her hands and she suddenly has a headache that hadn’t been there prior. She had almost forgotten about Garcia’s little investigation into them but the guilt kept her mouth closed.

“It was an accident, Garcia, alright?” JJ’s tone was stern but also laced with a begging tone. “Just leave it alone.”

“No, Jen, it’s fine, I have to own up to this,” Prentiss finally said, her voice scratchy and laced with emotion when words finally found her. “I’ve been having a difficult time since Scratch and sometimes I have nightmares, you know how that is.”

Garcia just nods, she barely even knows when tears had started forming in her eyes but the pain of seeing Emily actually opening up and admitting something was too much for the tech analyst.

“I woke up in the middle of the night, the nightmare triggered me awake and I didn’t realize how close JJ was and I just-“

Sensing that her wife wouldn’t be able to continue the story, JJ picks it up for her, “Her elbow met my eye and that’s it, alright? It was just an accident, you know Em could never hurt me.”

“Oh, babies, I do know that and I’m sorry, my curiosity just gets the best of me sometimes,” Garcia says with a sad smile.

“We know, Pen,” JJ finally looks down at her wife’s sunken face, knowing where it was coming from but they couldn’t get into that now. She figured after all that had just happened, the Unit Chief wouldn’t have much fight left in her. “Look, babe, will you just get in the chair for me please?”

Without a word and ignoring her pain, Prentiss gets up and is swiftly seated uncomfortably in the chair. Her head never tilting back up to meet the two blondes still in the room. She fights the urge to shrug off the hand of her wife that meets her shoulder from behind in her annoyance as JJ starts to wheel her out of the hospital room. It had been a long fucking week for Emily Prentiss.

 

* * *

 

Since the Randall Peeks case, things had seemingly gone back to normal around the BAU. In the three months since, Prentiss had recovered nicely from her wounds with the help of JJ. Garcia was relishing the renewed closeness to her two best friends that she hadn’t even realized she had been missing in the last year and Rossi kept his mouth shut, not saying a word to anyone, even JJ and Emily, about what he had found out.

What was different was how their Unit Chief was handling herself, she seems to have started healing and opening up more to the team about what happened that night with Scratch and how she still sometimes blamed herself for Walker’s death. It was all cathartic and she learned that she wasn’t alone in the feeling.

They had been on many cases since but Rossi couldn’t help but keep one eye on the Chief and the blonde profiler. Their demeanor and something in their dynamic had shifted even since Peeks and he was determined to figure out what but little could be done without talking to them directly. He and Garcia had talked but even the tech analyst was in the dark.

The team had all noticed the bit of distance between JJ and Emily over the course of the past week. Something that kept them further apart than what was normal for the two best friends. They all kept it quietly to themselves however until one day their Unit Chief had texted, telling them to all meet in the conference room. They figured it was just another case as per usual.

 

* * *

 

Penelope’s head shot up from the laptop that she was working at, already having been set in the conference room for a while now. She saw Lewis, Alvez and Simmons all stride in.

“What are you guys doing here?” Garcia asks although she probably already knew the answer to this question.

“Emily texted us,” Simmons responded, holding up his phone.

“We got a case?” Alvez asked, just as Reid strolled in and tossed his messenger bag over the back of the chair next to Garcia.

“No, nothing that’s come through me,” Garcia nodded in the negative.

“Do we know what this is about then?” Reid finally asked with a furrow of his eyebrow.

“Maybe it’s about how weird JJ and Emily have been acting around each other lately,” Tara hypothesized, thinking it was about time they knew.

“Reid, do you know anything?” Alvez inquires.

“No,” Reid shook his head. “I mean, I’ve seen as much as you guys have with their odd behavior.”

Rossi finally waltzed in and quietly set down at the conference table. He lounges easily into one of the chairs. Suddenly he sees the five sets of eyes placed on him, inquiring and he just shrugs.

Then suddenly the topic of their conversation entered the room together.

“Sorry for leaving you guys hanging,” Emily says. “We were just in a meeting.”

“A meeting? Anything serious?” Rossi inquires.

“No, no, you know this isn’t about a case and we were just discussing some leave time for Jen.”

“Leave time? Oh no, JJ, is everything okay?” Garcia asked worriedly.

“Everything is fine, you guys,” JJ finally answers, seeing all the worried expressions of her co-workers and friends. “In fact, they’re perfect and that’s what Emily and I actually wanted to talk to you about.”

Emily nodded at her cue from JJ. “Now I know you guys have noticed that there’s been something weird going on recently. And I appreciate all of your patience in finding out when we were ready to tell you. The last year has been very bittersweet for all of us between Reid’s imprisonment, Scratch and then Walker but we’d like to think some good things have come out of all that as well. Spencer gets some much needed leave, Simmons joining the team and now this.”

Emily reaches over and takes JJ’s hand in her own. And Garcia barely reigns in her squeal that comes out as a little squeak. Rossi just wears a lopsided smile, nodding his head in approval.

“JJ, what’s going on?” Reid asks.

The blonde starts, anxiety clearly present but when she looks over at the brunette, she seems to find her nerve, “Em and I have had this conversation many times over the last year and we just never found the right time to tell you until now but we are together and in fact, we are married.”

“Oh my God, I finally get to officially congratulate you!” Garcia yelps with excitement as she gets up to hug her two friends. Most everyone except for Reid is wearing wide smiles and stands as well.

“You guys are married?” Reid asked, not having moved an inch in his chair. When he receives nods from both JJ and Emily, he resolves, “Oh, okay.”

Then he stops, they all wait as his genius brain takes the time to process this new information and they notice as something sinks in. “But wait, JJ, what about Will?”

“Will and I separated over a year and a half ago and were divorced a year ago," the blonde profiler says with a light shrug, hoping the man would understand. "It wasn’t ideal but we grew apart and realized that we were better off as friends.”

“And it might have had something to do with the fact that you were already in love with someone else?” Rossi chances.

“That did play a rather large part in it, yes,” JJ smiles shyly over at Emily who beams at her wife.

Reid seems in deep thought, everyone seems to be waiting on pins and needles for his response. Emily ventures, “Reid?”

“I’m just shocked by how not shocked I am by this,” Reid finally says, letting a smile grace his boyish features. “When I think about it, this almost seemed inevitable. I’m so happy for you, guys.”

“Thank you, Spence,” JJ says as she greets the man in her arms before he reaches over and also hugs her wife. “But that’s actually not all the news we have for you guys.”

“Oh! What about the leave? What’s going on?” JJ holds up her hand before Garcia can spiral into a thousand questions.

“Emily and I have decided that it’s best for me to take a step back, take some time with the boys to prepare for the newest edition to our family.”

“Wait, newest edition?” Rossi prompts, eyebrow raising in suspicion.

“Yes, Jen is nearly four months pregnant and we are expecting our daughter this fall.”

“Wait, you’re pregnant again?” Reid’s ask with wide eyes.

JJ rolls her eyes and smiles, “Yes, _again_.”

“But its a girl!” Garcia all but leaps for joy. “You’ve never had a girl before!”

JJ laughs at her friend’s antics and squeezes Emily’s hand, “I know, Garcia, this is uncharted territory for all of us.”

“And how exactly did you knock up our beautiful blonde, Prentiss?” Garcia asks as her eyebrows peak with insinuation. “We know you have your ways and that you’re talented but not _that_ talented.”

Everyone laughs, even blushes slightly at the innuendo laced in Garcia’s words.

“Oh good lord, Pen,” Prentiss groans and rolls her eyes. “We used IVF and the donor was easy as I have a cousin who looks exactly like me.”

“So she’s gonna be equal part Jareau and equal part Prentiss?” Garcia asks with a thrilled look on her face and Emily just nods and smiles.

“Watch out, world,” Rossi quips, his smile still present. “That is going to be one badass female.”

“Yeah, I don’t think the world is ready for how awesome she’s gonna be,” Reid says with the excitement of a little kid.

“I’m sorry that we waited so long to tell you guys but it’s been a difficult year and the pregnancy is a high risk one at JJ’s age and so we wanted to make sure that everything was good,” Emily finally states.

“Well, would you look at that,” Alvez observes almost in awe while watching his Unit Chief closely. She can nearly feel the heat of his stare and turns to him in question with surprise and confusion laced in her features.

“What’s that, Luke?” the raven-haired agent asks, smile still firmly planted.

“I just don’t think I’ve ever seen this side of you before,” Luke shakes his head. “I mean, I’ve obviously seen how you look at JJ but right now, you just look so... in love, happy and you’re gonna be a mom!”

Everyone laughs but Prentiss face falls slightly in seriousness, she’s tearing up a little and everyone looks to her concerned.

“Babe?” JJ asks quietly.

“I’m alright, it’s just you’re right, Luke,” Prentiss nods. “I had honestly given up that I would ever have or be all the things you just listed. I thought I’d be alone for the rest of my life.”

“That’s horse crap,” Garcia says and everyone chuckles. “Even if your wife wasn’t head-over-heals in love with you then you had to know you always will have us, we’re more than just your team of agents, Emily, we’re family.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Rossi says as he shuffles back into the conference room quickly, most had not even realized that he’d slipped out. He sets eight glasses down on the table and a bottle of champagne. And everyone is a-gasp.

“Rossi, where did all of this even come from?” Prentiss asks with a chuckle.

“Oh, come on, Emily,” Rossi says as he fills the glasses with champagne. “You know I always keep alcohol in my office for the bad ones and champagne for the particularly good ones. And right now, this is particularly wonderful news and cause for celebration. Mazel tov!”

Emily rolls her eyes, “You’re not even Jewish, Rossi and neither are we!”

Everyone laughs as he passes out glasses, “Oh hush! Now one for the first-time mom and sparkling cider for the third-time mommy.”

“Thanks, Rossi,” JJ says with a chuckle as she takes the glass from him.

“So here’s to the...” Rossi stops himself short before he can finish his toast. “Is it the Prentiss’? I don’t want to assume roles here.”

Everyone is laughing quietly at Rossi’s resolve but we’re also curious so JJ speaks up, “Yes, outside of work I am Jennifer Prentiss but at work I’m still just Agent Jareau.”

“Good so here’s to the Prentiss’, to a long and happy marriage and to our little baby girl Prentiss, may you grow up to be just as badass as your mommies,” Rossi toasts as every smiles widely. The older, graying agent leans down and speaks to JJ's stomach this time as he rubs it. “Just be a little safer than them, yeah? Because we can’t wait to meet you.”

“Here, here,” Alvez says and a toast of cheers go around the room as they all clink glasses and drink.

Halfway through her sip, Penelope nearly spits out the champagne as a thought occurs to her, “Wait, does the bureau know about this?”

“Yes, we told the director as soon as we were engaged and he said that our performance since entering into a relationship hadn’t changed how professional we were so unless something drastic changes with the way we handle our jobs then it’s fine,” Emily concludes before muttering. “And being a Prentiss helps.”

“Of course, it does, Princess,” Garcia laughs and rolls her eyes.

“Who woulda thought?” Rossi says with a shake of his head.

“I still can’t believe you guys were married all this time under our noses,” Reid says. “I mean you’ve always been close but uh... not that close.”

“Shortly after my separation from Will was when Emily came back and became Unit Chief and when she did, I just...” JJ trails off. “There was nothing holding me back and I just couldn’t lie anymore, I think we deserved to be happy after all this time.”

“All this time?” Tara speaks up. “You mean there was a history before all this?”

“Well, there was Paris,” JJ says quietly and looks up to meet some very confused eyes. “Well, as some of you know I was the one who helped Emily out of the country as she assumed a new identity when she was presumed dead.”

Spencer’s eyes fall momentarily but looks up and he gives JJ a tight-lipped smile.

“And you could say that trip sparked some things in us but we were sure that it was a one-time deal,” Emily continues. “I was ‘dead’ after all and she had Henry and Will waiting for her at home”

“But you still married Will even after Emily came back?” Rossi states more than asks but still forms it as a question.

“Yes, after Emily and I both came back to the BAU, everything was different,” JJ states with a shake of her head. “She was distant and couldn’t exactly acclimate back and I was having the same problem after Afghanistan.”

“And I’m actually the one who was shoving her at Will the whole time,” Emily says with a wince. “I’m the reason they got married and honestly, I can’t regret that cause we have two beautiful boys who I can’t live without.”

“I’ve loved Emily since even before Will, it really dates back to not long after Emily joined the unit,” JJ admits with a shrug. “She was so guarded and Will offered me what I thought I wanted, a normal home life.”

“What changed?” Simmons asks with a furrow of his brow.

“Honestly, I realized after all that had happened that my life was anything but normal and that I wasn’t happy pretending to be in love with my husband anymore,” JJ confesses and everyone looks at her with a sympathetic smiles. “And he wasn’t happy either but it was more about timing.”

“Yeah, our timing has always sucked,” Emily groans and rolls her eyes. Everyone chuckles. “There was Hankel but I was so new to the team and not exactly open as she said, then Will came along and I felt like I lost all hope then JJ’s transfer to the state department, Doyle and my death, then we came back and nothing was right, then Interpol and JJ’s abduction.”

“Jesus, you two really do live in a bad soap opera,” Rossi says with a chuckle and shake of his head in disbelief.

“You’re not wrong, but this time I wasn’t going to let her slip away, I was getting a divorce and I just knew,” JJ resolves. “Hotch was gone and then Reid was arrested but we leaned on each other and that showed me more than ever that no time was ever perfect. You’ve got to make it count while you can and well, here we are.”

“Wait, when were you guys actually married?” Rossi can’t help but ask.

“April 5th, after we got back from that case in Arizona,” JJ says with a grimace. “We just decided we didn’t want to wait anymore, that there would never be a good time with our jobs and so we just up and went to the courthouse.”

“Enough about this drab past,” Garcia says with a groan. “Let’s talk about the future and this beautiful little baby of yours! Do you have any names picked out? Like say, Penelope for example?”

JJ laughs and Prentiss rolls her eyes, “We do have a name picked out already, we thought maybe it could be a surprise but I’m sorry, Pen, it doesn’t include yours.”

“But... we were going to ask you to be her godmother,” Emily appeases. “Of course.”

“Of course you were!” Garcia exclaims with excitement. “I’m the grandest fairy godmother of all godmothers! I can’t wait for my little princess to arrive. Sorry, Emily but I think she’s stealing your nickname once and for all!”

“Hey, I have no objections,” Prentiss says with a laugh. “It’s all hers!”

**Author's Note:**

> fin.
> 
> this is so cheesy but whatever, i love it. i hope you enjoyed. the title comes from "Pale Black Eye" by Manchester Orchestra.


End file.
